The biannual FISU Executive Committee meetings today focused on the efforts, directions and decisions of the upcoming Universiades, the World University Championships and the World University Leagues
LAUSANNE – The FISU Executive Committee continued with the second and final day of the meetings in the home of International university sport, as a number of important progress reports were presented and decisions were taken on FISU sports properties.
Napoli 2019 Summer Universiade
The Napoli 2019 Organising Committee delivered their progress report during the second day of the Executive Committee meeting in Lausanne
Sitting just south of Rome, the Italian city of Napoli is to host the 30th edition of the Summer Universiade from 3-14 July 2019. With just nine months to go, the Napoli 2019 Organising Committee team of Gianluca Basile, Special Commissioner, and Annapaola Voto, Agenzia Regionale per le Universiadi (ARU) Director of Institutional Relations, were joined by Lorenzo Lentini, CUSI President; Almerina Bove, Deputy Director Cabinet Region Campania; Fulvio Bonavitacola, Region Campania Vice President; Attilio Auricchio, Head of cabinet of the city of Naples, presented their progress report. The organising committee addressed a number of important points regarding the planning, coordination and delivery of the Universiade.
“We are fully committed for the success of this event. For Italy, this will be the most significant event for the country for the past ten years,” Mr. Bonavitacola said at the beginning of the Napoli 2019 report. “With the Summer Universiade, we want to reaffirm the central role of sport in the Mediterranean region.”
In an appointment, former ARU General Director Mr. Basile was promoted to special commissioner. Under the Campania Regional Law, Mr. Basile is tasked with the duties “to define, coordinate, and achieve the necessary actions to organise the Summer Universiade 2019.”
During his report, Mr. Basile gave a general overview of the sport venues refurbishment updates and plans to the 63 training and competition areas. The most ambitious of these venue refurbishment is the San Paolo Stadium Napoli, which is planned for the Opening Ceremony and the Athletics competitions. This 60,000 capacity stadium is the home of S.S.C. Napoli Serie A football team and was also used during the Rome 1960 Summer Olympics.
Mr. Basile reported on progress with the Athletes’ Village, which will see the 8,000 athletes and officials housed in three clusters areas: 4,100 in cruise ships in the Napoli downtown marina with 450 in the Pozzuoli university residence; 1,900 in a satellite village in Salerno; 1,550 using hotels cluster concept in Caserta.
With a maximum capacity of 8,000 beds available through the three Athlete Village clusters, the Summer Universiade 2019 will be capped at 8,000 athletes and officials. The decision was taken to keep all sports, necessitating a move to quota system for participation in individual and team events.
Regarding sport competitions, Open Water Swimming has been taken off the Summer Universiade 2019 programme. This decision was made due to the nature of the competition venue and the need to reduce entries. For individual sports, entry standards will be introduced, determined by the nature of the sport. For team sports, the decision was made to have same number of men’s and women’s teams compete at Summer Universiade 2019.
With the Intention of Participation (PI) entry being closed on 3 October, the general entry for both individual and team sports is 3 January 2019; a strict policy of all deadlines will be followed. The announcement of the team selection will be on 3 February 2019. The team draws are set to take place in April 2019.
The main athletes’ village took place on two luxury cruise liners, with dedicated Universiade traffic lanes and energy-efficient busses bringing teams to training and competition venuesAthlete and official entry deadline: The 2019 Napoli Summer Universiade Regulations will be released on 3 October from the FISU Online Accreditation System and via the Organising Committee.
Delegation Services: Mrs. Voto began the delegation services report by confirming that the Head of Delegations Meeting will take place 1-5 April.
Medical Services: Voto reported that the organising committee has appointed Dr. Amato de Paulis as Chief Medical Officer for the event.
Sports and Operations: Mr. Basile said that Napoli 2019 had reached an agreement with CONI to hire all competition managers and other figures to organise the competitions. Mr. Basile said all sport personnel will come from Italian sport governing bodies. The project to secure all the sport competition materials and surfaces will be ready soon, Mr. Basile also reported.
Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Mrs. Voto reported that the tender will start for the services and personnel needed for the organisation of the ceremonies is set to start on the first half of October. The Opening Ceremony is planned in the historic San Paolo Stadium Napoli, and the Arechi Stadium Salerno for the Closing Ceremony (the OC is open to modifications).
Host Broadcaster: Mr. Basile said they hoped to launch the tender to secure the services of a Host Broadcaster on November. “We have the resources available to do so,” Mr. Basile added.
“Italy is a guarantee, not only for our sporting passion, but also for our ability to deliver great sports events,” Mr. Lentini said.
Lucerne 2021 Winter Universiade
FISU First Vice-President and Managing Director of Swiss University Sports Leonz Eder opened the presentation of the Lucerne 2021 Progress Report by saying “I hope that in a very short time, you will all feel very much at home in Central Switzerland.” The slogan for Lucerne 2021 is ‘Welcome Home’.
The Progress Report was presented by the Cantonal Councillor Obwalden and member of the Board of Directors of the Association “Winteruniversiade Luzern-Zentralschweiz 2021”, Daniel Wyler, the Lucerne 2021 Managing Director Urs Hunkeler, Sports Director Karl Lustenberger, Finance Director Stephan Vollenweider and Head Office Director Regula Schweizer. The report checked the boxes in various Functional Areas.
Accommodation
Accommodation for delegations, and the FISU family has largely been finalized and 28 hotels have been allocated based on delegation and sport.
Organisation
The Organisation Chart is ready, with the OC growing steadily. Several experts have been brought on board, with 10 experts acting as Departments Directors. The Organising Committee, directed by Managing Director Hunkeler reports directly to a Board led by Guido Graf, Cantonal Councillor Luzern. expertshave also been appointed in the Local Organising Committees at the sport venues, like Marcel Dettling, the local OC President of the Alpine Skiing venue Hoch-Ybrig, who is the national councillor of Canton Schwyz.
Venues
Hoch-Ybrig, the host city of the World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships 1996, has been confirmed as the venue for Alpine Skiing. Andermatt-Realp is confirmed for Cross Country Skiing.
Marketing & Communication
Head Office Director Regula Schweizer said university students are being actively involved in the process. “We promoted the possibility for university students to get involved with the Universiade. The promotional film that was shot had students as actors.”
Here is the Lucerne 2021 promotional film.
Budget & Funding
There are ongoing discussions with potential commercial partners, even as the Swiss State has already pledged support of CHF 14 million.
Managing Director Urs Hunkeler said “We are well on our way to the opening day of the Winter Universiade 2021. The master schedule containing all milestones and main activities was already fixed by June 2018.”
29 World University Championships down, 4 to go
Mountain biking made a very positive impression on the 2018 World University Championship calendar
Under the light of the soon-concluding 2018 FISU World University Championship, the FISU Championships Department delivered their report to the Executive Committee. In 2018, 33 events comprised the Championship season and included four new sports (Cheerleading, Muaythai, Modern Pentathlon, Wushu) with just four more events (Cheerleading, Badminton, Bridge, Sambo) to go.
When the season closes with WUC Sambo in December, 7,000 participants are expected to participate in the competitions. FISU World University Championships Coordinator Julien Carrel highlighted events like Futsal, Beach Volleyball and Rowing that drew thousands of spectators to the venues in Kazakhstan, Germany and China.
While the 2020 schedule is close to being finalised, the bidding for 2022 will start soon, and is expected to include new events like eSports and Flying Disc.
World University Leagues premiere second sport
The FISU World University League – Football premieres in November 2019
As the 3×3 FISU World University League soon begins its fourth season, FISU Director General Paulo Ferreira noted a remarkable growth of the event: “The message of our Leagues concept is getting across to universities,” he said. “At the FIBA endorsed qualifiying tournaments all around the globe, the winning university teams were celebrating advancing to the World University League final, saying, ‘We’re going to China!’”
From the 3×3 FISU World University League’s start with 96 players and 24 teams in 2015, the tournament has evolved into a high-class student event with 648 players from 170 teams in the qualifying tournament. The fourth edition of the 3×3 WUL Finals will again take place in Xiamen, China from 15-18 November with 32 teams earning the right to compete.
While 3×3 Basketball has been a permanent figure on the FISU schedule, a new sports property, the FISU University World Cup – Football, will premiere in Jinjiang, China from 21 November to 1 December 2019. 16 men’s and 8 women’s teams will compete for the title under international exposure. Finals and semi-finals will be broadcasted on television, all games will also be live streamed via FISU’s digital channels.
After six years of developing the Leagues, Ferreira stressed that the coming six will be about maturity and consolidation, with the plan to add new sports like Rugby Sevens, Flying Disc, Cheerleading, T20 Cricket, eSports, Sailing, Gold, Rowing, Rugby 15s, Roborace and more to the Leagues system of university teams competing amongst themselves instead of national teams.
Steady countdown towards Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade
With the countdown clock reading 153 days to go until the start of Winter Universiade 2019 and the Universiade Flame starting its route from Torino earlier this month, Krasnoyarsk organisers appropriately focused their progress report on the delivery of what will be Siberia’s first major multi sports event.
Winter Universiade 2019 Director General Maxim Urazov opened the report with a look at the design and construction update of the sports venues and Universiade Village, including the village’s medical centre and athlete dining hall.
Mr. Urazov then moved on to an accounting and highlighting of the pre-Universiade test events that have, and will, take place in Krasnoyarsk. Joining Mr. Urazov for the immersive multimedia presentation were Alexander Kotelnikov, Deputy General Director; Julia Ivchenkova, Head of International Relations; and Julia Nechepurenko, FISU Relations representative.
FISU World Conference
Billed as more than a sports event, Universiades have an educational programme that goes on alongside the competitions. At the Winter Universiade 2019, the FISU World Conference main theme is “Innovation for Legacy and Sustainability” of student sports events. With a lineup of world-renowned experts and professors, the seminars are centered on searching for innovation in developing human capital and resources through sport, and identifying the new technologies that can lead to sport advancements.
The Conference, which expects to draw at least 300 participants, will take place in the Grand Hall Siberia from 5-7 March 2019.
Accreditation
The Winter Universiade has received participant entries from 58 countries.
Medical Services
The Universiade policlinic is ready, with the Organising Committee appointing Maxim Sergeyevich Suvorov as the Chief Medical Officer.
Coming Up
The Winter Universiade Heads of Delegation (HOD) Meeting is scheduled to take place 10-13 October 2018 in Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation.
The Krasnoyarsk organisers have been keen to include events-within-the events to engage with fans and future participants
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